So. Houston Legion

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, July 30, 2008

LEAGUE CITY - South Houston’s American Legion baseball team is one of five clubs competing in the 83rd state championship tournament at Clear Creek High School’s Wildcat Stadium this week.

The Division 2 winners opened the tournament on a good note Wednesday morning when the team eked past Edinburg 9-8. It propelled the club to a Thursday night showdown against host League City.

No matter the outcome of that game, the team will play again today. A victory sends the club to a 6:30 p.m. game against Texarkana in the winner’s bracket final. Texarkana opened its portion of the tournament by rushing past Milby 9-2. Like South Houston, Milby was another Legion team that competed during the regular season at Maguire Field.

Milby earned an automatic berth to the state tournament because it’s acting as the host team. If South Houston is unable to defeat League City, the club will drop into the loser’s bracket, opposing the survivor of the Milby-Edinburg contest that was played Thursday morning.

The tournament’s championship game is set for Saturday night at 6:30. Should the team coming out of the loser’s bracket prevail in that game, the two squads will return the following morning for a game at 10.

There’s no telling when a South Houston American Legion team last played at a state tournament. But in the late 1980s, South Houston was a terror on the American Legion circuit, winning multiple state championships.